Ah great!
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It is indeed desirable to use “cannot” if the sentence would make sense. In your example, “Cannot establish connection.” will make the sentence shorter, thus quicker to read. Of course there will be times when “cannot” wouldn’t make logical sense and at those, aim for the shortest and most succinct way to word the sentence.
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Yes, in my opinion present tense is more accurate when describing something that is not happening from the program’s point of view as opposed to something that is not happening because the user has not done it. E.g. “Cannot establish connection” vs “Valid URL not provided.”
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Great addition, thanks! Updating the above guideline!
